Annunciator-drop.



G. AUTH.

ANNUNOIATOR DROP.

APPLICATION FILED JULY "1, 1908.

awvo/wtoz Patented May 24, 1916.

q htweooeo 1 A MDREW B. GP-ANAM c0. Mormumocmvnsns. WASHINGTON, up.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES AU'IH, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

ANNUNCIA'I'OR-DROP.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLEs AUTH, of New York, in the county of New Yorkand in the State of New York, have invented a certain new and usefulImprovement in Annunciator-Drops, and do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention relates to annunciator drops, and especially to drops usedwhere it is especially desirable to economize space as much as possible,the drop which I have devised being exceedingly small and adapted to beplaced in a smaller space than has hitherto been found possible withannunciator drops.

An important feature of the drop which constitutes an embodiment of myinvention is the arrangement of the visual indicator thereon on a partmovable on a center within the outlines of the sign to be displayed,such as a shape somewhat similar to a Maltese cross. The particularconstruction illustrated consists, with regard to this particularthereof, in a disk attached to the armature of the annunciator drop,which is designed to rotate upon its own center when the armature isactuated. The said disk carries a design shaped somewhat similar to aMaltese cross, the cross itself being adapted to carry a name or someother significant marks upon a white field, while the background of thecross is black. The disk is located, when installed in the annunciator,in the rear of a plate provided with a slot, shaped similarly to thedesign on the disk, which is in the nature of a Maltese cross.The'efiect of this arrangement is that when the drop is actuated to movethe name or other distinguishing mark into view, the white field of theMaltese cross on the disk, carrying the name as above described, appearsthrough the slot within the plate located in front of the disk,resulting in shifting the black background of the disk entirely behindthe solid portions of the plate intervening between the arms of theslot, shaped like a Maltese cross, therein. When, however, the drop isreset by a proper movement of the armature, the white field with thename thereon is moved entirely out of View, as the arms on the whiteMaltese cross appearing upon the disk are moved behind the solidportions of the plate intervening between the arms of the slot locatedwithin Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed July 7, 1908.

Patented May 24, 1910.

Serial No. 442,396.

the plate. At the same time, this movement results in moving the blackbackground of the disk in juxtaposition with the openings of the slot,shaped like a Maltese cross, within the plate located in front of thedisk. In this position, therefore, inasmuch as the plate located infront of the disk is blackened, the entire plate, including the slotlocated in front of the disk, will appear black with the exception of asmall circular center of the disk which is located opposite to thecentral portion of the slot in the plate, shaped like a Maltese cross.

I11 the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a side elevation of the drop;Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same; Fig. 3 is a vertical section thereoftaken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2; Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic representationof an electrical circuit equipped with the said drop; Fig. 5 is adiagrammatic representation of a circuit equipped with a plu rality ofthe drops; Fig. 6 is a representation of the appearance of theannunciator when the signal therein has been actuated; Fig. 7 is asimilar view of the annunciator with the visual signal in sight; andFig. 8 is a representation of the disk carried by the drop.

In the drawings 1 is a base plate for the drop, upon which are locatedtwo solenoids 2. A soft iron armature 3 is located upon a pivot pin 4which is positioned slightly to one side of a plane passing through thecores of the two solenoids. The pivot pin 1 is supported at one end bymeans of the base plate 1, and at the other end by means of an arm 5,which extends upwardly from the base plate 1, and is bent paralleltherewith at its upper end to form an offset 6. The arm 5 is provided atits upper end op osite the armature 3 with two stop arms the purpose ofwhich is to limit the movement of the armature 3. Upon the upper end ofthe armature 3 a. suitable weight 8, such as a drop of solder, issituated, so as to cause the armature to be overweighted when movedeither to the right or the left of its middle position. Immediatelyabove the armature 3, the pivot pin 4: carries a yoke 9, which supportsupon its arms an indicator or target in the shape of a disk 10. Thelatter carries a white design, shaped like a Maltese cross, upon whichis situated a name or some other distinguishing mark. It will be obviousthat such name or other distinguishing mark might be located on any oneor more of the arms of the Maltese cross.

Between the arms of the Maltese cross, the disk contains a blackbackground. In the annunciator a black plate 11 is situated in front ofthe disk 10, having a slot or opening 12, shaped like a Maltese cross,and having the same shape and proportions as the white Maltese crosslocated upon the disk 10.

In the wiring of the device, one terminal of a battery 13 is attached bymeans of a which overbalances the same.

wire 14: to the two solenoids 2. lower one of the solenoids '2 a wireleads to a bell 15 for the purpose of making an audible signal at thesame time that the visual signal, located upon the white Maltese cross,situated upon the disk, is brought into view. From this point thisbranch of the wire leads, by means of a wire 16, to acircuit closer ofany desired character 17, whence the current leads, by means of a wire18, back to the other terminal of the battery 13. The upper solenoid 2is connected through a wire 19 to a circuit closer 20. of any desiredcharacter, similar to the circuit closer 17 already described, andfinally to the wire 18, which leads to the other terminal of the battery13.

In Fig. 5 I have shown a system equipped with a plurality of annunciatordrops such as that already described. In this arrangement the parts arelocated in the circuit in exactly the same manner as has already beendescribed with regard to the location of the single drop, except thatwhile I provide one circuit closer 21 for each of the drops, I onlyprovide one circuit closer 22 to reset all of the drops simultaneously.

In the operation of the device, the annunciator in its non-signalingposition will of course appear, as shown in Fig. 6, with all the arms ofthe slot or opening 12 in the plate 11, showing the black background ofthe disk 10. In this position of the disk the armature 3 will have beenmoved into the position shown in Fig. 8, that is to say, by the closingof the circuit including the upper solenoid 2, which comprises the wires14:, 19, the circuit closer 20, the wire 18 and the battery 13. hen,however, it is desired to actuate the signal so as to attract theattention of the proper person, the circuit including the lowersolenoid, which comprises the wire 14, the bell 15, the wire 16, thecircuit closer 17, the wire 18 and the battery 13 is closed by means ofthe circuit closer 17 so as to cause the lower solenoid to attract thelower arm of the armature and move th same to the right. The armaturewill then, of course, be maintained in this new position into which ithas been moved, because of the presence of the weight 8 The white Fromthe field carrying the appropriate name or other mark, which it isdesired to disclose when the signal is operated, is now brought intoview, as shown in Fig. 7. At the same time the bell 15, which isincluded within this circuit, is, of course, also operated to attractthe attention of the proper person to the annunciator. When theattention of the proper person has been attracted in this manner and thecall answered, the circuit closer 20, including the upper solenoid, orthe circuit closer 22, in case there is a plurality of such solenoids,is closed so as to reset the armature and move it into the positionshown in Fig. 8, thus removing the white field of the disk from View anddisclosing only the black background, as shown in Fig. 6.

It will be observed that because of the proportions and shape of theMaltese cross, of which I make use, that in either position of thearmature and its attached disk, the simi larly shaped opening in theplate in front of the disk will disclose only in the one case the whitefield of the Maltese cross upon the disk, the black background beingentirely removed from view, and in the other case, when the disk ismoved to the other position, only the black background of the disk, withthe exception of the white spot located in the middle of the Maltesecross, the white spot thus serving to indicate the exact position of thesignaling device without at the same time showing that the signal hasbeen actuated. It will also be seen, because of the very few parts ofthe device which I have above described, and their very small size andsimplicity, that a drop of this character takes up an exceedingly smallspace, in fact, practically no larger than the portion of theannunciator casing which is required to make a visual signal of theproper size, the mechanism being situated entirely in the rear of theportion of the annunciator front, which is set aside for the visualsignal ot'the particular drop. I find with a construction of thischaracter, that, because of its compactness, I can locate four suchdrops within the space which has hitherto been suflicient for only onedrop of the ordinary character. This, of course, results in a veryvaluable saving of space and inconvenience of arrangement in a case,where, as frequently happens, a very large number of drops are necessaryfor any one annunciator.

While I have described my invention above in detail, I do not wish it tobe understood that I am necessarily limited to the details thereindescribed, but consider that my invention is a broad one and capable ofmany different embodiments and applications to different structureswithout departing from the spirit thereof; for instance, the word towhich attention is to be called may be placed at some other point uponthe apparatus and attention be called to the word by displaying thewhite Maltese cross, as in Fig. 7, without lettering thereon. Obviously,in case of such location of the word, the form of the white figure uponthe movable plate and a corresponding opening in the front stationaryplate may be of any shape, so long as the movable plate when rotatedupon its center within the boundaries of such figure shall carry whiteportions thereof behind black portions of the stationary front plate.

I claim:

1. In a device of the character described, the combination of anelectro-magnet, a supporting frame therefor, a shaft, bearings for saidshaft in said frame, and a target carried by said shaft beyond theadjacent bearing.

2. In a device of the character described, the combination of a shafthaving pointed ends, bearings adapted to receive said points, means forrotating said shaft, a target, and means for supporting said target fromsaid shaft outside the adjacent bearing.

3. In a device of the character described, the combination with thefront plate of an annunciator, a target adapted to move parallel to saidplate, a shaft having pointed ends, bearings for said ends of saidshaft, one of said bearings being situated between said target and saidshaft, and a member adapted to support said target from said shaft.

4t. In a device of the character described,

; the combination of a signaling means, an

overbalanced pivoted armature for operatl I I l mg the same having itscenter of gravlty above the pivot and a pair of electromagnets locatedone above the other for operating the armature.

5. In a device of the character described, the combination of asignaling means, an overbalanced pivoted armature for operating the samehaving its center of gravity above the pivot, and a pair ofelectro-magnets located one above the other at one side of the pivotedarmature for operating the armature.

6. In a device of the character described, the combination of anannunciator plate having an aperture therein, a movable disk located atthe rear thereof, an overbalanced pivoted armature attached to said diskhaving its center of gravity above the pivot, the pivot of the armaturebeing located at the rear of the aperture, and electrical means foroperating the armature.

7. In a device of the character described, the combination of anannunciator plate having an aperture therein, a movable disk located atthe rear thereof, an overbalanced pivoted armature attached to said diskhaving its center of gravity above the pivot, the pivot of the armaturebeing located at the rear of the aperture, and a pair of electromagnetsfor operating the armature.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand,

CHARLES AUTH.

Witnesses:

EDWIN J. PRINDLE, M. MEIKLE.

